Padawan’s Journey 5

[brroberts]

Camped outside of Ingram, TX for most of the month until we go see my parents. Looking forward to driving and hiking in the hill country. The wildflowers have been great driving in. I’ll get a few pictures when we go hiking.

[brroberts]

Set up 3 small telescopes on 2 mounts to make sure everything is ready for the eclipse. I wanted to do a run through after bouncing everything down the road. The forecast is cloudy, but we’ll see. I brought an 80mm apo refractor, an 80mm achromat refractor, and a 60mm Ha for before, partial, and after. I brought an AzMountPro, and an AzGTI to mount stuff on. I have white light filters for both 80’s. I also have 2 pair of filtered 6X30 binocs, and 2 pair of 8X42 binocs unfiltered. I have about 15 pair of solar glasses. Now if the forecast is better than predicted, Ishould be good to go.

I wanted to have at least 2 of things in case there was a problem. I did not bring cameras or a computer with Astro imaging software. I just want to watch and enjoy. These events are far to fleeting to me to want to deal with that.

We also did a quick grocery run and checked out the local Pickleball courts.

Tomorrow is all planned out. We have absolutely nothing to do.

[MVA]

What campground are you at? We travel down I-10 frequently and a place near Kerrville would be nice to know.

[brroberts]

There are a bunch around here. We are at Johnson Creek RV Resort & Park.

[brroberts]

Drove to Mason, TX yesterday to beat the clouds. The eclipse was glorious! There would have been 4 min 26 sec of totality where we were camped, but it was clouded out. In Mason we has 3 min 46 sec with Jupiter, corona, and a ton of prominences. Today wandering around the hill country in the rain, and doing a short hike, Pecan Flats, that is typically loaded with wildflowers.

[brroberts]

Some Inks Lake Pecan Flats trail pictures. Well maybe not. Cell and WiFi are both poor here, so I’ll have to wait, but it was a nice short hike, a quilt store visit waiting for a tornado and hail warning to go, a picnic lunch, and a nice backroads drive looking at wildflowers.

[brroberts]

Very nice here relaxing today. I’ll pull out a telescope this evening and do white light and Ha solar and then view a few things after sundown. Yesterday at Pedernales was nice, but the wolf mountain hike, while it had a moment or two, was mostly disappointing as the whole hike was just a road. As usual, not sure when I can upload pictures. I hope sometime to do that.

[brroberts]

Nice time with fellow campers yesterday afternoon and evening looking at the sun in both white light and Ha as well as all kinds of things after the sun went down.

Today we went to S Llano river state park and hiked and waded in the river. Lots of birds / birding, a nice cool lazy river, and some hikes. Pictures when I get enough signal to post’em.

[brroberts]

Another great day. Beautiful drive on 470 and 377 today along with a hike at Honey Creek Stare Natural Area, and time relaxing in the Guadalupe River. Still not sure when U’ll have cell or internet to upload pictures.

[brroberts]

A really great day. A good drive on 336, swimming in the Ro Fro, and some actual rugged hiking at Garner State Park. Tomorrow is Enchanted rock. No river at any of the next stops, but more hiking. I still have no idea when I’ll get enough cell or Wi-Fi to post pictures.

[brroberts]

I took a ton of pictures today. Barb & I hiked 2 miles on an easy trail to overlook. Then I hiked up Enchanted rock, a granite monolith. Then I hiked a boulder valley between that and Little Rock. That took me to Moss lake and then I hiked around that part of the park. Finally I hiked around the back of Enchanted rock to a pass back to the front of the park and back to Barb. Probably 7 miles total. Then we went to a wildflower farm for seeds. Supper was Ben&Jerrys ice cream. Pictures to follow iwhen I can. Tomorrow is a day off, but we might go play pickleball.

[brroberts]

Our place is fine, but not all our friends are. There were tornadoes 3 miles east of our house today.

[mlowther]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that - I hope your friends are safe and ok - stuff can be replaced, but lives can't.

[brroberts]

I haven’t heard of any deaths. A trailer was completely shredded, but somehow both occupants survived.

Our place seems to be fine. We lost power a while, but nothing else seems amiss.

Today we played pickleball and went to a quilt store. Tomorrow is tourist stuff in Fredericksburg and the James Avery factory in Kerrville. Barb has had her eye on some new pieces.

[brroberts]

National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg was good. Barb went shopping. Now we are at James Avery in Kerrville. Tough day, but somebody’s gotta do it.

[brroberts]

At the end of the week, I should be at my parent’s house. They have internet, not great internet, but I think sufficient to be able to get some trip pictures posted.

Today was Hill Country State Natural Area. Decent, not great hiking. For those who love genuine horseback trail ridding, it would be a great place.

[brroberts]

Church & relaxin’ today. Hiking Government Canyon tomorrow. The Bandera courthouse was also very nice. I just gotta keep bein’ patient ‘till I can post pics.

[brroberts]

Easy hiking in Government Canyon today. Barb did 5 miles to some dinosaur tracks. I added another 1 1/2 to an old ranch house and an overlook. Lost Maples State Natural Area tomorrow. In the mid ‘80’s I lived in San Antonio for 2 1/2 years before I moved to Alaska. I spent a lot of weekends hiking and camping in Lost Maples.

[brroberts]

Lost Maples was good. Lots of birds including a Road Runner. Barb went 21/2 miles and I did 7. It’s mostly pretty easy hiking, but a couple of miles I had to work. Friday we head to Livingston, TX to visit my folks a few days and help with some of their chores before heading home. Should be able to post trip pictures in a few days.

[Rockhead]

Have you checked Glenrose dinosaur park there are good tracks there